Uploaded April 2017 | Updated September 2026, 3 days ago
Prior to Physics@Veldhoven 2017, the programme committee organised four masterclasses. These classes offer PhDs and young postdocs a unique opportunity to receive an introduction to their discipline from top researchers.
Masterclass abstract: Experiments on Cloaking in Optics, Thermodynamics and Mechanics
For centuries, the idea of cloaking was mere science fiction or fantasy. In 2006, Ulf Leonhard and a team around John Pendry independently suggested a design tool now known as 'transformation optics'. Based on the Maxwell equations for continua, it maps spatial coordinate transformations onto generally inhomogeneous and anisotropic material distributions. These distributions can be realized by using metamaterials. This basic idea can be translated to many other areas of physics because the underlying generalized Laplace equations reflecting conservation laws are closely similar or even mathematically equivalent.
Meanwhile, many corresponding experiments have successfully been demonstrated in optics, electrical transport, magneto-statics, heat transport, diffusion, and mechanics. Even applications like cloaked microwave antennas, cloaked contacts on solar cells to increase their energy conversion efficiency, homogenization of diffusive light emission from OLEDs, compensation structures for feedthroughs in mechanical support structures, and cloaks for protection against seismic surface waves (i.e. earthquakes) have been discussed.
In this masterclass, I will give an introduction into the field of cloaking using metamaterials, provide an overview, and describe the current state-of-the-art. Apart from mapping spatial coordinate transformations onto material distributions, spatial transformations can alternatively also be mapped onto boundaries, free-form surfaces, or can directly be applied onto discrete lattices.
Finally, precursors of cloaking, namely core-shell structures (or 'coated grains') acting as 'neutral inclusions', have already been published by E.H. Kerner in 1956 and have been reviewed in the textbook The Theory of Composites by Graeme W. Milton. Furthermore, I will also describe the connection of cloaking to the tomography problem posed by Alberto Calderon in 1980. In 2003, Allan Greenleaf, Matti Lassas, and Gunther Uhlmann proved mathematically that the tomography problem does not have a unique solution. This means that (infinitely) many different configurations lead to the identical tomographic input data. Thus, the inversion is unavoidably not unique. This work can be seen as a precursor or even as a generalization of cloaking.
About the conference: Physics@Veldhoven is a large congress that provides a topical overview of physics in the Netherlands. It is organised by NWO, the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research , and takes place each year in January. Traditionally, young researchers are given the chance to present themselves and their work alongside renowned names from the Dutch and international physics community. The programme covers Light and matter, Atomic, molecular and optical physics, Nanoscience and nanotechnology, Statistical physics and Soft condensed matter, Surfaces and interfaces, Physics of fluids, Subatomic physics, Plasma and fusion physics, and Strongly correlated systems.
Prior to Physics@Veldhoven 2017, the programme committee organised four masterclasses. These classes offer PhDs and young postdocs a unique opportunity to receive an introduction to their discipline from top researchers.
Masterclass abstract: Experiments on Cloaking in Optics, Thermodynamics and Mechanics
For centuries, the idea of cloaking was mere science fiction or fantasy. In 2006, Ulf Leonhard and a team around John Pendry independently suggested a design tool now known as 'transformation optics'. Based on the Maxwell equations for continua, it maps spatial coordinate transformations onto generally inhomogeneous and anisotropic material distributions. These distributions can be realized by using metamaterials. This basic idea can be translated to many other areas of physics because the underlying generalized Laplace equations reflecting conservation laws are closely similar or even mathematically equivalent.
Meanwhile, many corresponding experiments have successfully been demonstrated in optics, electrical transport, magneto-statics, heat transport, diffusion, and mechanics. Even applications like cloaked microwave antennas, cloaked contacts on solar cells to increase their energy conversion efficiency, homogenization of diffusive light emission from OLEDs, compensation structures for feedthroughs in mechanical support structures, and cloaks for protection against seismic surface waves (i.e. earthquakes) have been discussed.
In this masterclass, I will give an introduction into the field of cloaking using metamaterials, provide an overview, and describe the current state-of-the-art. Apart from mapping spatial coordinate transformations onto material distributions, spatial transformations can alternatively also be mapped onto boundaries, free-form surfaces, or can directly be applied onto discrete lattices.
Finally, precursors of cloaking, namely core-shell structures (or 'coated grains') acting as 'neutral inclusions', have already been published by E.H. Kerner in 1956 and have been reviewed in the textbook The Theory of Composites by Graeme W. Milton. Furthermore, I will also describe the connection of cloaking to the tomography problem posed by Alberto Calderon in 1980. In 2003, Allan Greenleaf, Matti Lassas, and Gunther Uhlmann proved mathematically that the tomography problem does not have a unique solution. This means that (infinitely) many different configurations lead to the identical tomographic input data. Thus, the inversion is unavoidably not unique. This work can be seen as a precursor or even as a generalization of cloaking.
About the conference: Physics@Veldhoven is a large congress that provides a topical overview of physics in the Netherlands. It is organised by NWO, the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research , and takes place each year in January. Traditionally, young researchers are given the chance to present themselves and their work alongside renowned names from the Dutch and international physics community. The programme covers Light and matter, Atomic, molecular and optical physics, Nanoscience and nanotechnology, Statistical physics and Soft condensed matter, Surfaces and interfaces, Physics of fluids, Subatomic physics, Plasma and fusion physics, and Strongly correlated systems.
